Computers and Originality

How Do Computers Effect the Product?
“Florian Cramer and Friedrich W. Block supported the notion that, especially in reference to literature, there is much in computer and net art that could be traced back to historical ideas, so that from an aesthetic point of view nothing really innovative results.”
I like this idea. For as long as there has been “writing” there have always been “original” texts; “original” in the sense that at one time the arrangement of words within the body of the work itself was unique. At one time Robinson Crusoe didn’t exist, then Defoe wrote it. But were the ideas found therein revolutionary, or were they ‘merely’ stories that had existed in many different cultures and were then set to paper for posterity? Were there no stories of French daring-do before Dumas’ Musketeers? Are the “Bourne” stories original, or are they just rewordings of the familiar formula? I ask these questions because they address the originality of content- very little is “new”. Adventures and romances have been around for a long time, and art for art’s sake has been around for even longer.
What do computers add to all this? The article says that, “The essential quality of the computer proved to be its processuality.” What does that mean, and how does it make the content or form of art and literature presented in electronic media different from printed or painted forms? Processuality refers to the ability of the computer and user to generate ‘new’ texts based upon the rules laid out by the programmer/writer and the reader. Giselle Beiguelman holds, “Links and programming can be used to transform text into an ‘intelligent’ object.” This is true. Computers can integrate interactivity, but how new is this when it comes to literature? I read “choose your own adventure books” as a kid. Whenever there was a choice to be made for the protagonist, such as whether or not to sneak past a guard, or to find another way into the fortress, I’d just turn to a specific page based upon my choice, and the text that described the result would be there, along with art, and if I’d chosen right, more choices (if I’d chosen wrong, that would be the end-I’d be “dead.”) Using two books I’ve even played a game against another person that was supposed to represent dog-fighting WWI era biplanes. We each had our own book in hand, and based upon my opponent’s choice and my choice, I’d select a page, and more choices would follow. It was complicated and required many pages, but thousands of different battles could be easily waged based upon ‘static’ text and the processing powers of our minds. The only thing that a computer game could have added to the experience is sound.
There have even been “color by numbers” and books that teach one how to draw, and come with templates and transparencies to be traced. In other words, computers facilitate activities that have been previously been the territory of books or classes. I submit that missing from this discussion is the simple question: How do computers do this in a manner that differs from the hand-written or painted methods? (Aside from the speed of transmission of information, I see little that they allow one to create that is original.)